The chief executive of Tesco, Philip Clarke, has pledged to set a “new
benchmark” for the testing of food after horse meat was found in some of the
supermarket group’s processed meat products.

The comments from Mr Clarke come after Downing Street criticised Britain’s supermarket groups for an “unacceptable” wall of silence as the scale of the horse meat crisis grows.

David Cameron believes that senior executives of major stores should have given media interviews to explain why horse meat had got on to British plates and what checks were made with suppliers.

In a blog on Tesco’s website, Mr Clarke said that his focus is “on giving our customers complete confidence that every single product on sale in Tesco is of the highest quality and contains exactly what it says on the pack”.

He added: "Nothing is more important to Tesco than the trust our customers place in us. And that trust depends on the quality of the products we sell.

"Since we became aware that a small number of Tesco processed meat products have been contaminated with horsemeat, we have been working flat out to get to the bottom of the issue.

"While tests continue, today I want to make a clear promise to customers and to tell you about the rigorous processes we have put in place to prevent this situation happening again."

Tesco is the biggest retailer in Britain and has a “responsibility to lead on this issue”, according to Mr Clarke.

He said: “Our priority right now is to complete our testing programme as quickly and thoroughly as possible, because people need to have confidence in all Tesco products.

“In addition, we are looking in great detail at every aspect of how products are sold in Tesco and at how our relationships with our suppliers become more transparent and collaborative. Would you eat horse meat?

“Where changes are needed, we’ll make sure they are made.

“And let me be clear that this doesn’t mean more expensive food – it just means doing things the right way, and accepting nothing less than the highest possible standards in the supply chain.”

Mr Cameron believes that supermarkets and other retailers have failed to explain what questions were asked of suppliers who sold them “beef” products containing horse meat.

However, in an open letter released on Friday, signed by Mr Clarke and his counterparts at Asda, J Sainsbury, and Wm Morrison, the retailers said they share the "anger and outrage" of shoppers and are "determined to restore consumer confidence in the food we sell as quickly as possible".

Tesco has also pledged that, from Saturday, customers will be able to replace any product that is tested and withdrawn from sale with a "better alternative for the same cost".

In addition, Mr Clarke said that Tesco is reviewing its approach to the supply chain and plans to build a "world class traceability and DNA testing system".

Tesco is also building a website to keep customers updated with the testing of products and provide more information to customers about where food has been sourced from.